Project II

EU senior citizens as active users of gerontechnology innovations

“EU senior citizens as active users of gerontechnology innovations” initiated by the Regional Council of Päijät-Häme was continuation to the project “Elderly care in the European Union” where two seminars were organised in May 2008 in Pecs, Hungary and in September 2008 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

In the new project the earlier partner structure was used with the possibly widest range of regional members of the European Union in the planned activity of representatives of member states that founded the EU, member states that joined the EU in 2004 as well as member states that joined the EU in 2007.

As the earlier project did represent a more general approach to the Elderly Care in the European Union for establishing a strong partnership, in the new project experts of the elderly care from various European regions wanted to deepen and share their knowledge especially about the use of gerontechnological solutions especially in the preventive care of dementia. Dementia is a wide European challenge when European population is ageing. One aspect of the problem is the adequate quality of the care for the elderly who are more and more represented in our societies. The improvement of the level of the elderly care can contribute to the increase of their equal opportunities in the society because it offers them the possibility of an active and liveable life. Experiences made in Nordic countries and Germany may serve as a model and guidance for the quality improvement of the elderly care in the regions of the new member states of the EU and also strengthen the European network of expertise.